I struggle with new things. I love to learn, but that amateur phase just socks me in the self-esteem every time. Between that and a solid dose of impostor syndrome, it can be hard to break through the paralyzing anxiety. It doesn’t have to be this way, and running reminds me of that on every sweaty conclusion.

This last weekend, the fam and I headed out to the coast for a little vacay. My mother-in-law came down on Friday and we all drove out together. A couple of hours of ‘are we there yet?’ from Portmandia Jr. and we arrived at our shack by the ocean. Sadly, shack turned out to be the operative word as we realized that we’d fallen for a rather creative Airbnb listing. Continue reading Trail Runnin’→

This winter I stayed serious about my running all the way through. On school days, I would walk my son to school in my flimsy running shorts, so that I could start running after dropping him off. So there I would be, shivering in the cold, and the question would come, “What are you training for?”

I’ve been quiet lately. I didn’t get any hiking done this winter. I’ve been running, but not really feeling like talking about it. I figured that it was time to spruce things up and start blogging again. What better way to get things started than to review the new subscription box that I’m getting from Cairn!

For me, backpacking seems to be one of those activities that never goes according to plan. I don’t think that I have ever managed to do exactly what I had planned, and this latest trip was no exception. This time, I was alone and that made things a little different. I didn’t have to worry about anyone else, which freed me to make faster decisions. This also meant that I didn’t have anyone to support me, so if things went poorly, they could go very poorly indeed.

This is the second installment of the trail journal that I kept while backpacking alone in the Columbia River Gorge. I’d wanted to hike this particular loop for years, and the occasion of my 42nd birthday was the perfect excuse to head out alone. It was also a chance to find out how I fared alone on the trail, alone with my thoughts and the wild.

I haven’t been able to do much of any hiking this summer. There have been a few trips with the boy up to Forest Park, but nothing substantial. I decided to fix that with a solo backpacking trip in the gorge. I’d had my eyes on a four day, forty mile loop for years.